At work, I'm usually around many interesting lab environments (clean rooms, etc.) with fancy warnings signs and other "Keep Out" type notices on their doors. The sign that always catches my attention (probably because it's the most colorful) is the strange looking blue-red-yellow-white diamond thing. I finally got curious enough to look this thing up online, and found that it's called the "NFPA 704". Nice name. I think they should have stuck with the "blue-red-yellow-white diamond thing."According to Wikipedia, the NFPA 704 "is a standard maintained by the U.S.-based National Fire Protection Association. It defines the colloquial "fire diamond" used by emergency personnel to quickly and easily identify the risks posed by nearby hazardous materials. This is necessary to help determine what, if any, specialty equipment should be used, procedures followed, or precautions taken during the first moments of an emergency response. The four divisions are typically color-coded, with blue indicating level of health hazard, red indicating flammability, yellow (chemical) reactivity, and white containing special codes for unique hazards. Each of health, flammability and reactivity is rated on a scale from 0 (no hazard; normal substance) to 4 (severe risk)."
I guess that means the most "interesting" labs are the ones labeled (B=4,R=4,Y=4). Now when you see this colorful diamond, you can impress your co-workers/significant other/boss by pointing out an "NFPA 704."
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